German Chancellor Angela Merkel (Photo: Reuters)

Merkel’s coalition was projected by pre-election polls to win 36 or 37% of votes. CDU/CSU will be the largest party in the parliament (Bundestag) with an estimated 219 seats, 30 seats less than during the previous tenure. The far right Alternative for Germany (AfD) won 13.5% of votes to claim 87 seats, becoming the first far-right party in the Bundestag enter parliament since World War II. The Social Democrat Party (SPD) crashed to just over 20%, its worst result in 70 years.